Remodeling in Glen Burnie, MD

What do Glen Burnie homes need most?

Most need updates to rooms that were built small and have been patched for decades. Many houses here have had two or three generations of owners, and the kitchens and baths often show several rounds of quick fixes layered over the original plumbing.

What Glen Burnie homes usually need:

• Hall bathrooms in ranchers and Capes that have been the only bathroom in the house since it was built. See bathroom remodeling in Glen Burnie.
• Small, closed kitchens that owners want opened to the dining or living room. Our Glen Burnie kitchen remodeling page covers layout changes in post-war plans.
• Decks from the 1970s and ’80s with loose railings and tired framing. See deck replacement in Glen Burnie.
• Whole-floor refreshes before a sale or after a purchase, with new flooring, paint and drywall repair.

How the town’s history explains the houses

Glen Burnie grew along its roads. Crain Highway (MD 3) opened in 1927 and Ritchie Highway (MD 2) in 1939, and after the war came Harundale’s prefabricated houses. The Harundale Mall followed in 1958, developed by James W. Rouse years before he built Columbia, and Marley Station opened in 1987.

Each wave left its own kind of house. The late-1940s and 1950s homes are small, often one story, sometimes on a slab. The 1960s and ’70s brought split-levels and larger ranchers. Later decades filled in with townhouses and newer subdivisions.

Remodeling a post-war rancher or Cape

Small post-war houses reward careful planning. Rooms are compact, walls often hold plumbing or wiring that has been rerouted more than once, and in Harundale-style homes the frame may be steel rather than wood. We open a small inspection hole or check from the attic before promising a wall can come out.

Slab houses add one more consideration: there’s no basement to run new drains through. A new layout is still possible, but keeping fixtures near their current drains is the simpler choice. Owners who want more space than the footprint allows can read our home additions page.

How permits work in Glen Burnie

Glen Burnie is unincorporated, so permits come from Anne Arundel County, and nearly every new application is now filed online. Interior renovations that don’t enlarge the house are filed as Residential Alterations. Replacing an attached deck or its railings needs a permit, while new boards on sound framing don’t.

Many older Glen Burnie houses are also due for roof work, and the permit line there is clear. New shingles alone need no permit, but a tear-off that replaces sheathing or trusses does. Lots near Furnace Creek, Tanyard Cove and Marley Creek add one more check, because the Critical Area changes the rules for fences and small decks.